Well before the regime took office for the first time, organized religion was on the decline and the big 3 professional sports (admittedly sports in general) was supplanting it as its own sort of religion, and I would argue supplanting it at a greater pace than evangelistic Christianity. The rituals, the pageantry, and more and more the growing 'causes' interlinked with each game, each team, each player. No wonder that as sports were viewed as being culturally and socially groundbreaking, they were also the literal battlefields for power plays and wars within society about what was "proper and good." With every debate about which coach should be fired or QB benched came the other discussions and y'all know those but the foot soldiers in these battles are the overarching organizations that reinforce what it means to 'be' and live in America by showcasing and reinforcing the ideals the Oval Office wants. Through advertising, through celebrations and/or memorials etc. Money and power are the weapons used for and against, same as it ever was.